Hotel cook thrown in well after assault & robbery, survives

Indore: A 30-year-old hotel cook from Indore survived a horrifying six-hour struggle for life after being assaulted, robbed and thrown into a 30-foot-deep well by three unidentified men in Simrol area late Friday night.

ASP Rupesh Dwivedi said the cook, Sanjay Yadav, a resident of Giriraj Valley Colony in Pipliyalohar, was returning home on his motorcycle when the attackers targeted him near an onion warehouse under Simrol police station limits.

In his complaint, Yadav told police that one of the accused initially tried to stop his bike by signalling him to halt. Suspecting foul play, he accelerated and attempted to escape. However, moments later, two more men allegedly appeared from the roadside and attacked him with sticks while his bike was still in motion.

The blow caused him to lose control and fall into a nearby field. The assailants then allegedly thrashed him brutally, struck his head with sticks, snatched his mobile phone and fled with his motorcycle.

Before escaping, the accused allegedly threw the injured man into a nearby well nearly 30 feet deep. Sanjay told police that the well had around five feet of water, and the fall left him with a fractured leg. Injured and trapped in darkness throughout the night, he somehow managed to stay afloat by holding onto a motor pump and rope installed inside the well.

Around 6 am on Saturday, a passerby heard his cries for help and alerted local residents and family members. Villagers later pulled him out using ropes and rushed him to hospital for treatment.

Police have registered a case of robbery and attempt to murder against unidentified accused and launched an investigation.

Sanjay works as a cook at a hotel and lives with his wife and two sons.